Fallen Hero, Haunted Thoughts
by Nina of the Galaxy
Summary: Laurel deals with the ten days after Oliver's death and flashbacks to the last conversation she ever had with him.


Title: Fallen Hero, Haunted Thoughts  
Words: 2162  
Pairing: Laurel/Oliver, Felicity/OMC  
Genre: Hurt/Drama  
Status: Done.

Summary: _Laurel deals with the ten days after Oliver's death and flashbacks to the last conversation she ever had with him. _

* * *

Seven days. Seven very real days that she's had to get up.

Laurel sighed as she got out of their penthouse apartment. She rode the elevator down to the lobby and her chest heaved. The Cameras were still there. She stopped for a minute and took a breath and opened the door. She pushed past them and tuned out their voices as she made her way to the car.

Diggle took her hand and opened the door to the car and let her in, pushing it closed as she scooted across. Quiet for a minute.

He opened the Driver door and smiled sadly at her. "Where to, Laurel?" He asked.

"We have his funeral to attend." She whispered.

If it were possible, there might have been more cameras at the church and as Diggle opened the door and held his hand out for her to give him her own, she was blinded by the flashes.

"Get out of here," She mumbled as she stopped trying to get out. Maybe if she just sat there, sad and unmoving, they would get the picture.

Diggle pushed in front of her and crouched down to look her in the eye. He tipped her jaw up with one gentle finger. "I know," He promised. "But we need you inside the chapel." He said as he gave her his hand again and she took it.

She walked in with him to the chapel and she knew what the papers would say. They would inevitably make it about the rumor that she and Diggle were dating. She felt like 500 pounds of lead were on her chest, but of course, they were gonna make it about sex.

She sat in the front row and watched everyone go up and say their final goodbyes. It took a while. There were a lot of people that loved him. Of course, he never knew it. He never did. His skill was not in social observation, but in action.

When the line drew down to just a couple of people, including Thea, she got up and stood in line. She noticed that no one touched him. No one liked to touch the dead. Thea stood there on the side as she came up to his casket and saw him for the last time. The person who put him in it had given him that smile that was only theirs. She touched his cold cheek and let out a sob. "God dammit, Ollie, it was supposed to be us, always and forever. How could you leave me this way?" She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the tears from coming. Gently, she leaned down and kissed him on forehead. "I don't know how I'm gonna make it without you."

The funeral was a funeral. She'd been to too many in her day. This was his second that she had to attend. At the first one, she thought I never want to do this again. I never want to bury someone I'm in love with. I just can't do it. If she thought that had been hell, she didn't know what to call this one.

She thought back to the last moment she saw him and how she expected him to come back. How when she went to bed that night, she didn't expect in the morning for her father to show up at her door with two other cops who sat her down on the couch just as Felicity called her to tell her the bad news.

The cops looked at her sympathetically as she took the call and the color drained out of her face.

No, the last time she saw him, they'd been out at lunch. He paid the bill and held her hand in his.

He guided her out of the restaurant and they stood underneath the structural element as it rained a little bit. "You know, Dad would have been so impressed with the way things turned out with you. He always thought I was making a stupid mistake on that boat," He said with a bit of a smile. It turned out dad was right.

She laughed and he loved her smiled. God, he loved her smile. "You were making a stupid mistake back then, but without it, I wouldn't know the lovely person you are." She said as she cupped his cheek and gave him a carefree kiss.

"You are too good to me, you know that?" He said with a bigger smile than hers.

She nodded. "I know, but you're pretty good for me too. So what do you have to do tonight?" She asked him.

"I have to deal with the company tonight. Felicity keeps hounding me about making decisions." He said and kicked some imaginary dirt.

Laurel nodded. "Well, when do you to be in at the office?" She questioned.

He sighed as he looked down at his cell phone. It showed four text messages from Felicity already expressing her displeasure and the time was 2:30. "I should probably go now."

"Okay," She nodded to him as she pushed herself up to give him one more kiss.

He kissed her back and after he was done, he wrapped one of his arms around her waist, "Let me walk you to your car?" He asked.

She nodded and looked at the sky. The rain let up, so they walked across the street leisurely, like they had all of the time in the world. She unlocked her car and hopped into the driver's seat. She started the engine and pressed a kiss into his cheek. "I'll see you in the morning, Ol?" She asked.

"Yeah," He breathed as he hugged her once more. "I love you, Laurel."

She giggled. "I love you more, Ollie,"

His eyes shone with happiness. His giddy little self was showing. "If you say so," His mouth crinkled. He shut her door and she drove off. He went to his car to drive to the office. Felicity told her he never made it to the office.

She put her rose on his grave and then got shuffled into the car by Diggle because she knew that she couldn't handle the reception. Everyone would want to talk about him and she couldn't do that. She still couldn't believe he was gone, even though she'd seen the body.

Three days later, she threw out all of the newspapers that stacked up on the counter. She never read them.

She met Felicity at the office. "Are you okay?" She asked. "I mean I know your husband just died, so that's kind of a bummer, but you know, he'd want you to go on. With your life I mean."

"I don't really want to talk about him, Felicity," She said. Honestly, she didn't want to talk about him as a past tense person. He was still a very present tense person to her. She loved him present tense.

"Queen," A voice shouted behind her and she turned around.

She still expected to see him. But they were shouting for her. "Mrs. Queen, I'm my condolences for your loss." They said and she smiled even though all she wanted to do was cry because they were saying he was really dead. "If there is something I can do for you, please let me know. Felicity will give you my contact information," They said as they patted her arm and left the other way with a smile.

"Who was that?" She asked Felicity.

"That was David Peitres. He's our new CFO. Oliver hired him to take over for Trent Mathis when David's year long vacation was up. I guess he remembers your picture on Oliver's desk." Felicity explained as she took Laurel into the office. Felicity looked into Laurel's eyes and there was shock and fear. "Are you okay, Laur?"

"No, Felicity I'm not." She confessed as she took a tissue and wiped her nose. "When Peitres called my name, I turned back and thought that Oliver was gonna be there. I thought he was calling out for Oliver. And I do that every time. I've done it ever since you called me to tell me you didn't see him in the office. Whenever the phone rings, I think for a moment, it might be him. I can't go anywhere where that stupid hope isn't always lurking. Because everyone keeps talking about him like he's past tense."

"You can come back later for the documents," Felicity said. "You shouldn't have to deal with all of this," She rubbed Laurel's arm.

Laurel shook her head. "No, I should get this done. He wanted this done ages ago." She told Felicity as she wiped her tears away, "God, I just can't believe he's gone still. It just feels like he's hiding out on a stupid island again."

"How long did it take the first time?" She asked.

Laurel smiled a little sadly, "I never really got over him the first time. I still looked for him in the crowds. It just got easier to deal with. There was one time, I got a call from an unknown number. No one said anything and even though it was stupid, I thought it might be him."

"It will get easier to deal with. Just like it did before." Felicity nodded.

Laurel laughed a little, "How do you have that much faith?"

"Because we have to. You have Queen Consolidated to deal with now as well as the Queen Foundation charitable giving." Felicity said as she walked over to her desk and took the paperwork out of it. "Here, these are yours."

Laurel reached for a pen and signed all of the documents, initialing anywhere appropriate and her signature. This was the only place she ever signed it Laurel Lance-Queen. "Is this all I needed to do?" She asked Felicity.

"Well, now as the majority owner of Queen Consolidated, it is now your responsibility to appoint a new CEO." She told Laurel.

"How well do you know how to run the company?" Laurel asked.

Felicity ran a hand across her neck. "Pretty well. I mean Oliver never really wanted to run the company. He only did it when I begged him to when there was literally no other option, because there was only so much I could do as his assistant."

"Well, now you have all the power. The job is yours." Laurel said. "Inform the other investors and I'll make sure we set you up with a salary and some stock options."

"Thank you, Laurel. I won't let you down." Felicity said, a little excited by the prospect of getting to run the city in a new direction. Laurel left and Felicity rounded the corner into her new office's sitting room that was away from the public so that the CEO could have some peace and quiet. "You should tell her."

"I can't Felicity. Besides, his death is forever now. She'll never have to deal with the pain of him coming back."

"You know, I don't get how all of you, his parents, Slade, her sister, everyone can be so blind to her feelings. She is literally the shell of the person she was before and you think that it's okay to just leave her like that."

"What do you suggest I do to help?" His half brother from his father's side said as he looked out onto the city. "Besides, my brother did what he should have. He laid his life down for her. He literally gave her the entire city. He made her his wife and ensured she would never have to deal with assholes ever again. She could simply buy them out."

"Felicity,"

Laurel's voice. Felicity narrowed her eyes at Oliver's half brother, David Pietres, and then went out. "Yes?" She asked.

"Can you come over?" Laurel asked, her eyes were red and puffy, and it looked like she had a headache which indicated she'd been crying for quite awhile. "It's just...not easy without him there."

"Sure," Felicity said, "Let me just get my coat."

"What does she want?" David asked.

Felicity picked up her coat from the couch. "She wants someone to come over. I don't think I'll be long though. She's still not quite ready for company."

"So why are you going at all?"

"Because she's my friend, David. Believe it or not, I've made relationships here that don't involve you. And Laurel, she needs people to do things when she asks them to right now. So show yourself out of my office." She said as she left. "Ready to go."

Diggle smiled to them as they rode down to the parking garage and then went to the Queen penthouse. "You know, he really liked you, Felicity?"

"He loved you, Laurel. He said it everyday. He couldn't have loved you anymore or his heart might have exploded" Felicity smiled to her.

As the car stopped, she smiled, took a breath, paused and said. "If you say so,"


End file.
